I’ve been looking at Facepunch lately, looking at where we’re headed, where we want to be headed, what we could do better. One area I think we’re particularly weak is in marketing. This hasn’t been a problem up until now because GMod has huge viral marketing.. but going forward it’s definitely something we need to improve. I’m kind of fighting against two forces.

Bullshit

I don’t know whether it’s because I’m English, or because I don’t want to be judged, or if I’m just not that happy with my work.. but it feels wrong to self promote. I’d rather release and let people enjoy it if they want. No song and dance. But the real world doesn’t work like that. You need people to play your game. The company needs to make money, people need to get paid.

I know a guy outside of the games industry that exists purely on bullshit. He has no actual skills, he does no actual work – he just bullshits. You need something doing? He owns a company that does that – he’s been in the business for 10 years – he will point out 5 examples of his work within your current field of view. His companies fold all the time, but then another one springs and he’s back in business. Walks around on his phone, purposely in earshot of other people, talking about how his ‘Maserati’ needs to go in for a service.

The power of the bullshit.

Managing Expectations

I remember a while back Introversion released DEFCON. It was the biggest thing on the internet for about 7 days before release then about 2 days after. The game was mediocre at best. But the marketing was amazing – they had everyone pumped for it somehow.

I’m sure it sold a lot of copies, but I’m also sure a lot of people played it for 10 minutes and thought “is that it?”. My worry is how many times will these people give you a chance when you bullshit them? Does it matter? Will they always buy into your hype? Is this bad marketing? Is it fucking yourself in the long run?

Community Manager

Street Team, Community Support, Community Manager. All things that I have hated ever since I entered the modding scene. That’s why I’ve avoided having anything like this. Every modding group about 5 years ago had no coders, no artists, one project manager and 10 community managers. More bullshit.

But maybe it’s exactly what we need. Someone to spend their time thinking of marketing, creating materials, sending emails and making contacts.